Culture

Culture

FIRSTS: London’s Rare Books Fair

Books in Bloom

This May, Firsts London returns to the Saatchi Gallery with a burst of colour, curiosity, and craftsmanship. The theme? Books in Bloom – a celebration of all things botanical in the world of rare books.

From ancient herbals to avant-garde floral art books, over a hundred rare book dealers from around the globe will gather to showcase the intertwined histories of books and botany. It’s the literary companion to the Chelsea Flower Show, blooming just down the road – but with more vellum and fewer tulips.

Expect everything from medicinal manuscripts to pressed flower albums, poetic tributes to roses, and gorgeously illustrated plant encyclopaedias. Botanical books tell a story far richer than just plants on a page. They chart centuries of exploration, science, superstition, art – and obsession.

Once used to treat fevers and fend off spirits, early plant drawings became tools of classification, trade, and desire. By the Victorian age, they were full-blown objects of beauty, their detailed engravings and watercolours capturing the global explosion of flora newly ‘discovered’ and imported.

Justin Croft Antiquarian has brought an exquisite edition of Baudelaire’s Les Fleurs du Mal,…

Culture

Rolls-Royce Goes Wild

Britain's most famous luxury car marque brings woodland magic to London Craft Week

At this year’s London Craft Week (12–18 May 2025), Rolls-Royce Motor Cars is bringing a captivating artistic display that reimagines the British countryside in exquisite detail and craftsmanship. Created by artisans at the marque’s Goodwood headquarters, the triptych artwork draws on the flora and fauna of the British Isles, presenting a woodland scene across three […]

Culture

Stephen Cox: Myth

Mesmerising mythology at a major new sculpture exhibition in Norfolk

Mythological beasts stalk the grounds of Houghton Hall – in a good way. The stately home in Norfolk is presenting Stephen Cox: Myth, an absorbing new exhibition of the work of the British sculptor. Arranged across the park gardens and interiors, this is the most comprehensive retrospective ever of the Royal Academician’s sculpture. Covering more […]

Culture

Woman, Life, Freedom

What the Iran protests mean

The video was ordinary enough, a female competitor in the Asian Mountaineering Championships in South Korea climbing up a steep indoor wall, reaching from one hold to another, her long dark hair held back in a ponytail. This is Elnaz Rekabi, a rock climber from the Islamic Republic of Iran, and her simple act of appearing in the competition without the mandatory headscarf has made this one of the most defiant and personally dangerous acts that an Iranian woman could commit.

The world interpreted her competing without a hejab as a show of solidarity for the protests that have erupted in Iran in the past month, and as an act of quiet civil disobedience, the likes of which have been mushrooming all over the country. The women of Iran – supported and surrounded by men – have been rising up in their mases to reject the compulsory hejab imposed by the Islamic Republic’s Sharia law, to protest the death of Mahsa Jhina Amini, and to chant for an end to the Islamic Republic itself.

Elnar Rekabi, 33, at the final of the Asian Climbing Championships in Seoul, 16^th October, 2022, wearing a black headband rather than the hejab.

The protests erupted spontaneously after the death of Mahsa Jhina Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd, who was taken into custody on the 13^th of September because of “bad hejab”. She was visiting relatives in Tehran when the Morality Police had challenged her about hair showing from her standard hejab of headscarf and long loose coat. She was in custody for two hours before being taken to hospital, where she lay in a coma. She died three days later. The authorities claimed that she had a heart attack from a pre-existing condition. Her family deny this, and state that her body showed signs of being beaten. Protests broke out in Iranian Kurdistan, Mahsa’s homeland and, in spite of a brutal crackdown by the authorities, they soon spread throughout the country, the Kurdish freedom cry of “Woman, Life, Freedom” the dominant chant to what has become the biggest protests that Iran has seen since the revolution of 1979, recorded in 350 locations. In the rest of the planet, people are coming together in support – on the first of October, 500,000 people marched in solidarity across the world.

Thousands turn out in Melbourne to stand in solidarity with protests in Iran following the death of Mahsa Jhina Amini.

What started as a protest against the mandatory hejab soon became a demand for freedom. While the brutal treatment of Mahsa Jhina Amini was the spark that lit this conflagration of rage, the real heat comes from decades of oppression of any viable opposition to the hardline clerical regime, a free falling economy, the mass corruption and hypocrisy of the ruling elite, which refuses to engage with Iranians’ simplest demands even as their own children post pictures of the parties they hold in mansions in LA, bought with the pilfered resources of our country.

This is not a call for the end of Islam, it is a call for the end of the symbols of state power and abuse, a call that even devout Iranians have joined. Religious women in hejab are in the protests alongside the girls who have so courageously whipped off their headscarves to face the regime’s forces with their hair flowing. The women of Iran have been demanding freedom ever since Ayatollah Khomeini took power in 1979 – the first demonstration against mandatory hejab was three weeks after his arrival. Before the revolution, Iranian women had some of the most liberal laws in the Middle East, and they had been voting since 1964. Significant uprisings led by women have taken place since. From 2009 onwards, men have joined women in these protests, often adopting hejab themselves to express their equality with women.

The demonstrations all around the world supporting Woman, Life, Freedom (Jin, Jîyan, Azadî) have encouraged Iranian women to keep strong and defiant.

These demonstrations feel different to those which have come before in significant ways. In spite of a brutal crackdown which has seen live and rubber bullets being shot into protesters, mass rounding up of university students, dystopian scenes of school children being beaten by security forces in their own schools, a mass attack on Kurdistan with drones and shelling directly into people’s houses, and a massacre in another ethnic monitory province of Sistan and Baluchistan, the people of Iran are not giving up. There are increasing instances of quiet civil disobedience – women going about their daily lives without the mandatory hejab.

Elnaz Rekabi’s appearance in Seoul without hers was the latest instance of women taking back their power and losing their fear. But the regime continues to fight back: Elnaz went missing in Seoul for two days after which she stated on her Instagram that she had appeared without her hejab as a mistake and apologised for doing so. It’s assumed that the Iranian authorities exerted enough pressure on her to make her write this. Yet, when she flew back into Iran at an ungodly hour, nonetheless the people of Iran congregated at the airport in their thousands to welcome her back, calling her “champion”. Whatever happens now to Elnaz and the many thousands like her that are being held in custody, tortured, raped and brutalised, something important has changed in Iran, and whatever violent repression is used to send people back home, Iran and its people will never be the same again.

Kamin Mohammadi is an exiled Iranian writer living in Italy. She is also a broadcaster and journalist specialising in Iran related topics, among other things.

Kamin Mohammadi’s The Cypress Tree: A Love Letter To Iran, published by Bloomsbury is available HERE.

Words: Kamin Mohammadi @kaminmohammadi

Opening picture: Raymond Hill

Culture, Philanthropy

Spirit of Ecstasy Challenge

Rolls-Royce champions artists of international merit

Launched this year, The Spirit of Ecstasy Challenge is a new biennial initiative from Rolls-Royce’s Muse programme. It invites emerging artists to design artwork inspired by the Spirit of Ecstasy – the sculptural figurine that adorns the bonnet of every Rolls-Royce motor car. This first edition focused on the medium of textile, challenging participants to create textile–based artworks pushing the boundaries of design. Our Editor Julia Pasarón attended the presentation of the winning artworks in London and had the chance to speak to both the artists and a few members of the jury, to learn about this new Challenge and its significance.

Jessica Persson Conway, Global Head of the Rolls-Royce Arts Programme, told me how it all started, “In 2019 we decided to take this long-standing relationship to the next level and founded our own Arts Programme, designed to give a platform to rising artists and leave a legacy of artistic achievement. Through the Dream Commission and the Spirit of Ecstasy Challenge initiatives, we ignite a dialogue with creative visionaries of our times and form a gateway to fresh ideas and unbounded innovation.”

Watch an introduction to The Spirit of Ecstasy Challenge:

It is all about celebrating craftmanship, as Christine Franck, Head of Colour, Materials & Trim Design at Rolls-Royce explained to me, as we admired the winning sculptures, “With the Spirit of Ecstasy Challenge, we continue to celebrate outstanding craftsmanship and material excellence. It was amazing to discover how many diverse approaches to textiles there are, and how creatively artists experimented with the topic. It is truly inspiring and rewarding to see these extraordinary pieces, representing three completely different design directions.”

To start the Challenge, international experts from the creative world nominated a longlist of artists, all of whom were invited to create a proposal for a new piece of work. The nominators included Glenn Adamson, Curator; Anne Marr, Programme Director, Jewellery, Textiles and Materials at University of the Arts London; Nana Ocran, Founding Editor of People’s Stories Project; and Mizuki Takahashi, Executive Director and Chief Curator of Centre for Heritage, Arts and Textile, Hong Kong.

An expert jury then reviewed the proposals and selected three winners to bring their pieces to life. The jury included Anders Warming, Christine Franck and Jessica Persson Conway from Rolls-Royce; Yoon Ahn, Director of Jewellery at Dior Men and Founder of Ambush; Tim Marlow, Chief Executive and Director at the Design Museum, London; and Sumayya Vally, Principal at Counterspace Studio, Johannesburg.

“The Spirit of Ecstasy continues to be our muse for the ongoing pursuit of excellence. She embodies what we, as the House of Rolls-Royce, stand for: strive for perfection, attention to detail and timeless beauty,” explained Anders Warming. “It is fascinating to see our icon being transformed into these three very unique expressions, pushing technical and conceptual boundaries. These extraordinary masterpieces celebrate a different dimension of our iconic figurine, manifesting the exciting future of textile design.”

The winners of the inaugural competition and commissioned by Rolls-Royce to produce their proposed textile-based sculptures were Moroccan artist Guizlane Sahli, Chinese Bi Rongrong and London based multidisciplinary designer, Scarlett Yang.

“The Spirit of Ecstasy to me symbolises freedom and Nissa’s Rina is an ode to female freedom…”
-Ghizlane Shali

Ghizlane Shali studied architecture in Paris before moving back to Morocco where she started running an embroidery workshop with local artisan producing handmade clothes. Her concerns for the environment, in 2012, Ghizlane co-founded the Zbel Manifesto collective, where she works mostly with another female using primarily waste and repurposed materials. She has a beautifully romantic view of what other people would considered just rubbish. “I think that these materials come with the energy distilled from their previous lives, they come with a soul.”

Her understanding of space thanks to her architectural background shows in all her work, including the sculpture she created for the Spirit of Ecstasy Challenge, Nissa’s Rina (Woman’s song). Ghizlane tells me that she wanted to celebrate women around the world and her own femininity. The three-dimensional sculpture represents two wings, made mostly with recyclable and salvaged materials wrapped in silk and gold, following traditional embroidery techniques. When together, they form what she calls ‘alveoles’, which remind me of beehives. The feathers are made of gold-plated copper. “The Spirit of Ecstasy to me symbolises freedom and Nissa’s Rina is an ode to female freedom, it is about the intimacy of the female body” she says, “I think I became an artist to celebrate women.”

In Nissa’s Rina, Ghizlane covered the tops of plastic bottles with silk and gold thread following traditional embroidery techniques.

Bi Rongrong is an artist who ‘reads cities’. When travelling, she scans the urban architecture for street art, ornamental patterns, posters – any fragments she can use as visual fodder for her vibrant multimedia works. The way she sees it, “If civilisation is the land, then the cities are the forests which grow on this land.” She began her journey as an artist at the University of Sichuan, studying Chinese traditional landscape painting. As well as the streets, Bi also finds inspiration in museums of historic art and architecture, a move that led to her to bring textiles into her work. “Architecture is not only stones, it can be textiles too,” she explains, “Nomadic people don’t have solid buildings. Where they put down their carpets is where their home is.”

Bi Rongrong, Stitched Urban Skin, 2022. Courtesy Muse, The Rolls-Royce Arts Programme.

Upon returning to Shanghai in 2016, she enlisted the help of fashion students at the city’s Institute of Visual Art to incorporate knitting and crocheting into her work. In 2020, Bi brought LEDs, architecture and video into her work with textiles. Stitched Urban Skin, the artwork she created for Rolls-Royce’s Spirit of Ecstasy Challenge, combines the hard metal of an automobile and the coolness of LED with the softness of textiles and ancient Xiaoshan Lace, crochet and Suzhou embroidery from China, a form of artisan skill that is disappearing. “When I asked for their help,” shares Bi, “he local craftswomen first dismissed my idea but once convinced, they loved taking part in it and were very proud.”

Detail of Stitched Urban Skin, showing the combination of ancient Chinese crafts applied to textiles with metal, LED and acrylic.

Scarlett Yang uses algae, sea water, and the colour pigments in marine microorganisms. The final result, Transient Materiality, is a kind of biodegradable plastic textile. In form it looks like a translucent lattice, reminds me of a creature from the abyss. The fluidity of this piece was inspired by the fluid movement of the Spirit of Ecstasy.

“I use technology and science to underpin my art pieces, which could be perceived as the opposite to art…”
– Scarlett Yang

Scarlett has always loved working with technology and to apply science and logic to his work. “I use technology to underpin my art pieces, which could be perceived as the opposite to art. Here for example,” she says, pointing at her sculpture, “I use the textiles made of algae to bring nature back to it.” Her sculpture feels light and ethereal, with imperfect edges that actually bring a lot of warmth to the piece.

This is not only a stunning piece to look at but also very very clever. The transparency of the sculpture is thanks to the fact that the biggest percentage of the composition of the material is water, bound with photosynthetic algae that are infused into it. Then, with a little bit of help from science, the liquid turns solid.

In Transient Materiality, Scarlett created a movement as if it was cloth wrapped around a model’s body.

The shape was inspired by her past in fashion, where she played a lot with experimental draping on models’ bodies. “For this piece, we casted a model’s body and then shaped this form [her sculpture] over it, as it would be if the body was moving around, and this is where its fluidity comes from.” Softer versions of this kind of creation by Scarlett have been used in photoshoots, worn by real models.

After their presentation in London earlier this month, the artworks are embarking on a global tour. The locations where the works will be exhibited are still to be announced so watch this space!

Words: Julia Pasarón

Opening picture: Muse Installation View, Spirit of Ecstasy Challenge Exhibition, Cromwell Place. Photo © Luke Walker

Culture, Philanthropy

Slaughter Baby

In 1994, the then three-year-old Sonia Gisa’s life was devastated by the genocide in the country of her birth, Rwanda. In the onslaught, her father was murdered and she and the rest of her family were forced to flee their home to escape the brutally ruthless soldiers. Last year, Sonia published her first book, Slaughter Baby, in which she shares the story of how she survived the horror of those years and became Miss Africa and an international top model. Author Elaine Sturgess interviewed her for I-M Intelligent Magazine.

The consequences of the genocide prevailed for many years. Sonia survived not only the guns of the militia but severe hunger and illness. During her childhood and teenage years, she was haunted by those experiences, with traumatic periods of PTSD. Despite this, Sonia’s survival instincts, determination and courage motivated her to find a purpose in life and to realise her dreams. She escaped Rwanda and move to Europe, where she studied and worked her way into fashion and modelling. Now a top model with over 12 years of experience, Sonia’s outlook on living is an extraordinary testament to the human spirit. Her indomitable understanding of life and death has given her a sense of self and resilience that transcend the limitations we often place on ourselves. In talking to Sonia about her life and experiences, one of the startling realisations is that she has an incredible capacity to find perspectives that most of us might find hard to comprehend, given the level of violence she experienced.

E.S: How was the experience of writing your own story?

S.G: I like to put my thoughts and imagination on paper, so writing has always been something that I’ve enjoyed – but this time the experience was different – I definitely didn’t realise beforehand what an immense therapeutic effect it would have on me to talk about my personal experiences.

E.S: Your book recounts harrowing experiences that most of us cannot imagine, how have they influenced the person you have become?

S.G: My story literally shaped every single layer of my personality so it’s hard to know where to start. Most importantly, it helped me drop all of my fears because when you face something unbelievably terrifying in your childhood, it either helps you build the ability to cope with fears easily or you become a victim of that experience your entire life. I believe that either way you are the one who chooses the path you are going to follow.

E.S: As a child, you were aware that often girls were “unwanted” because families preferred a male child. Has that made it more important to you to succeed as a woman?

S.G: Fortunately that was not my case. As a child, I knew my father loved me very much – and that was enough for me. I did have some insecurities that pushed me to try to impress, for example by choosing difficult studies, but I quickly realised that I wanted to be myself no matter what. Being myself was the most important thing, more than gender identity.

Sonia managed to escape Rwanda and moved to Europe, where she studied and worked her way into fashion and the very top of the modelling world.

E.S: How far do you think that situation has changed in Rwanda almost 30 years on?

S.G: There have been major changes in Rwanda. To start with, change came at a very slow pace – and then “boom!”, Rwanda became one of the countries developing really fast and now many look upon us as an example. Moreover, the percentage of women in politics has hit a new record as the highest in the world these last few years. Hopefully, it will stay that way.

E.S: How have your experiences shaped your view on violence based on ethnicity and race? How does Europe compare?

S.G: Violence is always horrific, in the case of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi, it was a result of long-term propaganda linked to colonisation. The human race must learn from their mistakes and prevent that from ever happening again. It’s difficult for me to make a direct comparison with Europe because my experiences were deeply personal and I haven’t lived in Europe in a time of war, but I recognise that here there have been some of the darkest episodes of mankind, such as the Jewish and Armenian genocides. I believe the same lessons have to be learned by both continents.

“On my very first fashion shoot, I felt enraptured. There was nowhere else I would’ve wanted to be. I could free my mind completely and simply live in the moment.”
– Sonia Gisa

E.S: The loss you experienced was devastating, did you ever think that you wouldn’t survive?

S.G: Never. I never had any doubt even when I was young. I have always gone through life knowing that the best was yet to come.

E.S: There is a particularly heart-breaking and tender moment in your story when your father’s remains are discovered, and you describe washing his bones ready for burial. Can I ask what the emotional impact of that was?

S.G: It was shocking. On one hand, I felt a sense of relief that he was going to be buried with dignity. On the other, I couldn’t imagine that the amazing image of a wonderful father I had in my head could be just the remains that were in that trash bag. I heard one day somewhere that love is the only feeling that can travel through time… that helped me to see that incident more like one last step I needed to grieve. He is still with me in my heart.

E.S: The life wisdom and understanding you talk about in your book are inspirational, is that a direct reflection of your experience?

S.G: It is a combination of many things: experience, observation, vision and the strong will I had to break through and transform iron into gold – that’s the metaphor I really identify with, from The Alchemist by Paul Coelho. Do you know? If life gives you lemons, make lemonade.

The 1994 genocide against the Tutsi resulted in the death of 800,000 human beings,

E.S: Do you think the world has moved forward in its desire to address oppression and support countries like Rwanda?

S.G: The world is definitely going in the right direction on that subject, as proved by the recent movement Black Lives Matter, but in terms of supporting countries like Rwanda, I strongly believe that the main and most important foundation has to come from inside countries themselves; and then the rest of the world can help.

E.S: How far do you think a movement like Black Lives Matter can go towards helping Rwanda?

S.G: In many ways, Black Lives Matter raised the world’s awareness of the inequalities that reign globally towards people of colour, and Rwandans are included. It also helped to shine a spotlight on different countries with different issues.

E.S: You were very determined to breakthrough in the fashion industry. Tell us about your first job, how did it feel?

S.G: I had a feeling of rapture because for the first time I was able to free my mind and live in the moment. There isn’t any other place I would’ve wanted to be other than where I was at that moment in time. Discovering the fashion world made a huge impression on me; I love meeting all the creative people and being involved in that inventive world is imperative for me.

“Black Lives Matter raised awareness of the inequalities that reign globally towards people of colour, and Rwandans are&nbspincluded.”
– Sonia Gisa

E.S: It’s interesting that you picked the fashion industry which is notoriously punishing in its examination of appearance. Have you ever found that difficult?

S.G: Sure, I have had criticism coming my way about my appearance, but I have rarely given a thought to that. You have to be able to differentiate between constructive criticism and people who just want to throw their venom at you – and I know how to manage that.

E.S: You love to travel, and obviously lockdown prevented that for some time. Have you been planning places to visit now that most restrictions have been lifted?

S.G: Ha-ha, the list is long! I have to catch up with all the destinations I missed during the lockdown. I’m fascinated with South America and Asia, so firsts on the list: Mexico, Bali, Peru, Vietnam…

E.S: Writers and books have inspired you on your journey. Who are your favourite writers and what words of wisdom have they given you?

S.G: Reading is my favourite pastime and I have been influenced by many different writers and books. If I could pick what I have been into recently, I would say The Allegory of the Cave by Plato. I like his philosophical vision about how humans perceive reality; and Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey, a very inspiring life journey about spirituality, combined with a Hollywood success story.

E.S: What message do you want people to take from your own book?

S.G: Dream big, follow your dreams. Your past and background don’t define you – start where you are. Nothing is impossible, and remember to stay humble.

Slaughter Baby is available on Amazon as Paperback £11.99, Kindle £9.99 and audiobook (free with Audible trial).

Culture, Philanthropy

The art of listening

International Contemporary Art Prize 2022, Prince Pierre of Monaco Foundation

Created in 1966 by Prince Rainier III in honour of His father, who was a great protector of the Arts, the Prince Pierre of Monaco Foundation is today led by Her Royal Highness The Princess of Hanover and keeps supporting literature, music and the arts. First awarded in 1965, the International Contemporary Art Prize (PIAC) rewards a recent work proposed by the Artistic Council, which is chaired by HRH The Princess of Hanover, every three years. The winner of this prize is awarded the sum of €75,000.

For its 48^th edition, each member of the Artistic Council proposed “Patrons” who were consulted to select the work that they felt was most accomplished and representative of the two years preceding the Prize. Twenty- seven works submitted and from those, two were shortlisted: The Star-Spangled Banner (2020) by Christine Sun Kim, nominated by David Horvitz; and How to Improve the World (2020), by Nguyen Trinh Thi, nominated by Zoe Butt. Both focus on sound and the act of listening and interpretation.

“Kim’s work offers a bridge between the world of the hearing and the world of the Deaf…”
– Christiano Raimondi

Christine Sun Kim is a is an American sound artist based in Berlin. She works predominantly in drawing, performance, and video, and considers how sound operates in society. Musical notation, written language, American Sign Language (ASL), and the use of the body are all recurring elements in her work. The Star-Spangled Banner began with Christine’s interpretation of the US national anthem in American Sign Language (ASL) at the Super Bowl in February 2020 in front of millions of viewers. Accepting the invitation to perform was not an easy decision for the artist, as American football embodies values that are not her own. However, it was vital for her to maintain visibility for the Deaf community in America. Unfortunately, Christine Sun Kim’s performance only got a few seconds of airtime, a clear sign of the work that still needs to be done to achieve more equitable visibility in the media. The next day, she published an article in the New York Times reflecting on her experience at the Super Bowl of the systemic racism that she believes pervades American culture and which has become a norm that often goes unnoticed.

Nguyen Trinh Thi is a Hanoi-based independent filmmaker, documentarian, and video artist and regarded as one of the pioneers of her home country Vietnam’s independent cinema. She is known for her layered, personal, and poetic approach to contentious histories and current events through experiments with the moving image. Set in the Central Highlands of Vietnam, home to a large concentration of Indigenous groups, How to Improve the World is a film about listening. The film reflects on the differences in how memory is processed between visual and aural cultures, while observing the loss of land, forests and way of life of the Indigenous people in this part of the world. On the subject of the cultural dominance of images at the expense of other sensory modes, Nguyen Trinh Thi states: “As our globalized and westernized cultures have come to be dominated by visual media, I feel the need and responsibility as a filmmaker to resist this narrative power of visual imagery, and to seek out a more balanced and sensitive approach to perceiving the world by paying more attention to soundscapes, in line with my interests in the unknown, the invisible, the inaccessible and potentialities.”

Christine Sun Kim receiving this year’s International Contemporary Art Prize.

The winner was Christine Sun Kim, who received 75,000€, which includes funding to produce a new work. The winning work will be exhibited as a part of a larger exhibition at Casa Encendida in Madrid from 10^th November 2022 until 26^th February 2023, the last public day of the ARCOmadrid International Contemporary Art Fair.

For Cristiano Raimondi, the artistic director of the PIAC, “Kim develops a work in which signs, gestures and their signifiers are constantly being enriched, offering a bridge between the world of the hearing and the world of the Deaf through the construction of an artistic language that goes from a sign to an image and from an image to a representation of music.”

This year, a Research Grant will be awarded for the first time. Its aim is to support an artist, an institution, a collective, or an art historian in their current or future research work related to the Mediterranean region. Proposed by the Artistic Council, this triennial prize is not open to applications and is endowed with a prize of €10,000. From the three nominated artists: DAAR (Sandi HILAL and Alessandro PETTI), Dominique KOCH and Pierre LEGUILLON, it was DAAAR (Decolonizing Architecture Art Research) and its founders, Sandi Hilal and Alessandro Petti, who were awarded the grant. DAAR combines architecture, art, pedagogy and politics. Over the past two decades they have developed a series of research projects that are both theoretically ambitious and practically engaged in the struggle for justice and equality.

The Principality’s Prize was presented to French anthropologist Philippe Descola for the entirety of his oeuvre.

Other awards announced that evening included the winner of the Literary Prize, Vénus Khoury-Ghata; the Discovery Grant was given to Thomas Louis for his début novel Les Chiens de faïence, published by Éditions de La Martinière; the High School Students’ Favourite Choice Prize was presented to Marie Vingtras for her début novel Blizzard, published by Éditions de l’Olivier; the Young Musicians’ Favourite Choice Prize was awarded to York Höller for his work Viola Concerto (2016–2017), while the winner of the Musical Contest was the Kyiv Symphony Orchestra.

The Principality’s Prize, awarded jointly by the Rencontres Philosophiques and the Fondation Prince Pierre of Monaco, was presented to Philippe Descola for the entirety of his oeuvre. Descola is an internationally renowned anthropologiest noted for studies of the Achuar, one of several Jivaroan peoples, and for his contributions to anthropological theory.

Opening image by Philippe Fitte

Foundation Prince Pierre

www.fondationprincepierre.mc

Tél: + 377 98 98 85 15; info@fondationprincepierre.mc

Words: Julia Pasarón

Culture

The Neverending Story

The power of imagining, the danger of wishing

As part of the group of special editions produced by The Folio Society to mark their 75th anniversary, they have published a magical new edition of Michael Ende’s The Neverending Story, translated by Ralph Manheim and beautifully illustrated by award-winning artist Marie-Alice Harel.

The Neverending Story marked a moment of unforgettable magic in my childhood. As an avid reader and lover of fantasy, this was a book that made a huge impact on me. I started it one afternoon and didn’t go to sleep until I finished it. The story is timeless and would resonate with any kid of any generation. I regularly give it as a present to children between 10 and 13 years of age and I am still to meet the first one that didn’t devour it cover to cover. The Neverending Story was first published in 1979 but only became popular around 198222 as it got translated into almost every language in the planet.

This new edition looks like the way I imagined the original book would have looked like when I read it for the first time. It is full of exquisite design details, decorative chapter openers and many magical illustrations to help the reader jump to the universe of Fantastica. The text is printed in two colours: red and green (as it was in the editions of the 1980s) and opulently bound in blocked art silk. The book comes presented in a printed and pearl blocked case.

Folio’s edition of The Neverending Story is bound in blocked art silk and presented in a printed and pearl blocked case.

The story of Fantastica is a story within a story. The protagonist, Bastian, is the typical shy, unpopular kid, often bullied in school and with a distant dad, who doesn’t seem to be able to get over the death of his wife. Bastian falls upon The Neverending Story in a bookshop and immerses himself in the world of Fantastica and the tragedy that afflicts its Childlike Empress, who is dying of a mysterious ailment. At the same time, The Nothing is eating away this magical land, advancing at a terrifying pace, swallowing anything and everyone on its wake. When Fantasticans fall into The Nothing, they come to our world as lies. And lies lead to terrible things…

If we consider the fact that Michael Ende was German and born in 1929, it is easy to see the similarities between The Nothing and much of what happens in the book with the Nazi regime and WWII. Ende’s family was seriously threatened by the Third Reich and Ende himself served in the resistance in 1945.

In Folio’s edition of The Neverending Story we find eight full page colour illustrations by Marie-Alice Harel, including a double page spread.

In the book, as the hero Atreyu and his dragon embark in a mission to find a cure for the Empress, Bastian realises that he is not just reading the book… but that he IS part of it and has a key role in this adventure. It has to be him, a human being, that saves Fantastica and the Childlike Empress by giving her a new name. His low self-esteem though prevents him from sharing the name he has imagined for her and only when Fantastica is seconds from total annihilation he finds the courage to call it out: Moon Child.

As a follower of the Enlightenment era, Ende feels that imagination should always be balanced with reason, so although the book is a clear ode to the use of imagination, in several moments it clearly says that for all to be in order in our world and in Fantastica, humans should visit Fantastica but then go back to their world. Reason needs imagination and there cannot be imagination without reason.

The book also warns us about the dangers of getting our wishes granted and the short path to megalomaniac authoritarianism. After Bastian saves Fantastica, the Childlike Empress gives him the Auryn (the medallion of power), making him her representative and giving him power over every creature in Fantastica. Then she disappears. Any wish he wants is granted, but he loses a bit of his memory each time. He even changes physically, becoming tall, handsome and prince-like. However, inside, he still hates himself and that feeling contaminates his soul and eats him away. He loses his friends Atreyu and Falcor, and starts to listen to pernicious gossip from bad people. Not only he almost loses himself but, his delusions of grandeur take him to almost taking the crown of Childlike Emperor, telling himself that he is surely meant to do so after the disappearance of the Empress. At the end of the day, that is what she meant, right? He was almost ordered by the medallion she gave him to do whatever he pleased. A sobering view of human nature by Ende and one clearly mimicking the events surrounding the rise of the Third Reich and of Hitler.

When Empress Moon Child disappears, Bastian gets progressively drunk with power and believes he should be Emperor.

Thankfully in the book Ende turns things around. Bastian realises the mistake he has made when he goes to the City of Old Emperors and meets other humans that had tried to become Emperors before. The are all mad as they had wished and wished until they had completely forgotten themselves and live permanently in some sad form of delusion.

The moral and ethical lessons of The Neverending Story are not limited to the dangers of an improper relationship between imagination and reality or about the risk of becoming a tyrant, but also about the importance of finding and loving yourself, just as you are. Only then you can be the best version of yourself and help and inspire others.

Michael Ende’s The Neverending Story, illustrated by Marie-Alice Harel (£80.00) is exclusively available from foliosociety.com. You can buy it now HERE.

Words: Julia Pasarón

Opening picture: Sphinxes from the 1984 film The NeverEnding Story at Bavaria Studios, Munich. Photo by Michael Kleinhenz.

Culture

Ian Fleming

Blurring fact and fiction wins wars

In every fictional character there is a kernel of truth that helps make the narrative and the person believable; something tangible with which the author can relate to the reader. Ian Fleming’s James Bond is no different. His career as a Naval Intelligence officer probably influenced the narratives he constructed for agent 007, who would go on to save the world almost countless times, with feats and exploits that appear to defy credulity. The question is: did the fictional story influence real events, or did real outcomes shape the fiction? The strange fact of the matter is that with Fleming, it was a two-way street in which the lines between fact and fiction become very blurred.

This year marks the 60^th anniversary of Dr. No, the evergreen spy’s first movie, which presented to the world the man from MI6, generally amenable to vodka martinis, vintage champagne, fast cars, luxury watches, and a rosary of sexual conquests. Commander James Bond, formerly of the Royal Naval Reserve, an agent for the Secret Intelligence Service, may now be labelled as an anachronistic relic from a bygone age, but the books and the movies keep selling. There is still enough magic in the escapism and daring do of the gentleman spy to capture audiences of all ages across the globe.

Sean Connery and Ian Fleming on the set of From Russia with Love, 1963

In modern parlance, one would say James Bond is a misogynistic functioning alcoholic, who tended to gamble and take far too many risks… all of them attributes that reflect his creator. Ian Lancaster Fleming was born into a wealthy family in London in 1908. He attended Eton College. Although not academically inclined, he was a sporting hero, the Victor Ludorum of the school, but was persuaded to leave early by his housemaster on account of, among other things, attitude, hair oil, ownership of a car, and relations with women. He was enrolled in a crammer course to gain entry to the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, but the taste for excesses continued, and in a career that spanned a number of false starts from the military to the foreign office, from journalism to stockbroking, Fleming arguably excelled at only two things: being a spy master in World War II and creating the world’s most famous fictional secret agent.

At the onset of war, in May 1939, having failed as a stockbroker in the City of London, he was inexplicably appointed as personal assistant to Rear Admiral John Godfrey, Director of Naval Intelligence of the Royal Navy. In the role, Fleming was arguably to become the spymaster he was destined to be, with ideas and memorandums that contained an eclectic mix of war time campaign strategy and story book narratives, which allowed him to imagine and plan some of the most daring missions that helped the Allies in the conflict. He was given the rank of Lieutenant-Commander, the codename “17F”, and he worked out of Room 39 at the Admiralty. Irrespective of how it was offered or what exactly it involved, his role gave Fleming access to most of the War Office’s set of secret departments. Godfrey was, by all accounts, not a well-liked character among the high-ranking officers, so he used Fleming as a liaison with other sections of the government’s wartime administration, such as the Secret Intelligence Service, the Political Warfare Executive, the Special Operations Executive (SOE), the Joint Intelligence Committee and the Prime Minister’s staff.

Ian Fleming in Room 39 at the Admiralty. He was given the rank of Lieutenant-Commander and the codename “17F”.

Fleming’s influence and abilities were swiftly engaged by the war time administration. In September 1939, Godfrey circulated the Fleming authored “Trout Memo”, in which deception of the enemy was compared to fly fishing. The memo contained several schemes to be considered to lure U-boats and German surface ships towards minefields. It also contained the idea that was used before the Allied invasion of Italy from North Africa, called “Operation Mincemeat” in which a corpse was used to deliver false documents in what appeared an inopportune twist of fate. In the memo, Fleming noted: “A suggestion is used in a book by Basil Thomson: a corpse dressed as an airman, with despatches in his pockets, could be dropped on the coast, supposedly from a parachute that has failed.”

Another idea that followed a year later was a fictional narrative aptly named “Operation Ruthless”. As the campaign to break the German Navy’s Enigma machine became paramount, Fleming devised a plan to obtain the necessary device with the initiation codes. The idea was to “obtain” a Nazi bomber, man it with a German-speaking crew dressed in Luftwaffe uniforms and crash it into the English Channel. The crew would then attack their German rescuers and bring their boat and Enigma machine back to England. The idea found favour with Alan Turing at Bletchley Park, but much to his annoyance, the mission was never carried out.

As war became more complex, in the same way that planting false information became the proverbial Trojan Horse, obtaining the correct plans from the enemy was equally a priority. In 1942, Fleming formed a group of commandos, known as 30 Assault Unit (30AU), which was composed of specialist intelligence troops, and who he referred to as his “Red Indians”. The same commando unit, with the same name, would appear in Casino Royale. It was 30AU’s job to be near the front line of an advance, or even in front of it, to seize enemy documents from previously targeted headquarters. Although Fleming did not part fighting in the field, he directed operations, selecting targets and the composition of the unit to undertake the mission; although for “Operation Overlord”, he oversaw events offshore from HMS Fernie.

Towards the end of the war, Fleming formed another special unit for military intelligence called T-Force, or Target Force. Once again, Fleming sat on the committee that selected the targets and listed them in the “Black Books” that were issued to the command officers. T-Force was responsible for securing targets of interest for the British military, including nuclear laboratories, gas research centres and individual rocket scientists. The unit’s most notable discoveries came during the advance on the German port of Kiel, in the discovery of the research centre for German engines used in the V-2 rocket, Messerschmitt ME163 fighters, and high-speed U-boats.

Fleming was demobilised in May 1945 but remained in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNVR) for several years after. While at Naval Intelligence, he had admitted to a friend that he would write the spy story to end all spy stories and after the war, Fleming returned to writing as a journalist with The Sunday Times. He started authoring Casino Royale in 1952 to take his mind of the impending nuptials to his pregnant girlfriend, Ann Charteris (formerly Viscountess Rothermere) who had a long-standing affair with Fleming through two previous marriages.

On her Majesty’s Secret Service, Diana Rigg plays Countess Teressa (Tracy) di Vicenzo, who marries James Bond (played by George Lazenby). The character was based on Fleming’s own wife, the former Viscountess Rothermere.

Most of the central plots of the Bond novels contain elements of all Fleming learned or had experienced about the international balance of power when privy to the corridors of war secrecy at Naval Intelligence. Casino Royale and Live and Let Die both concern the Cold War and the subterfuge actions and operations of SMERSH (an arm of the Soviet secret service) in undermining western governments. The From Russia with Love plot could have been lifted from the Trout Memo as it concerns a plan by SMERSH to assassinate and discredit Bond, using bait in the form of a cipher clerk and Spektor (the Soviet decoding machine). The narrative for Moonraker was derived directly from Fleming’s time as part of T-Force and the discovery of the research units for the V2 rockets. Piz Gloria, Blofeld’s lair in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, was based on Schloss Mittersill, which the Nazi’s used as a think-tank concerning the Asiatic races and that was uncovered by the 30AU.

James Bond was an amalgam of all this. Every heroic or daring escapade encountered was written into Fleming’s mind from his past. He admitted, “Bond is a compound of all the secret agents and commando types I met during the war”. The secret agent’s lifestyle was an extension of his own, from Fleming’s jaunts to Casino du Palais in Le Touquet-Paris-Plage, to Bond’s meeting with his future wife Countess Tracy di Vicenzo on the road from Calais to the fictional Royale-les-Eaux. The lines between fact and fiction become most definitely blurred.

Ian Fleming at the wheel of a 1930 ‘Blower’ Bentley for Life Magazine, October 1966.

Bond playing golf, even down to the same handicap, came from Fleming enjoying the sport. The brand of toiletries, the influence and role of various women, and his love of gambling were a portrayal of personal experience. The motoring duel between Bond and Drax in Moonraker derived from Fleming’s attending the 1930 Le Mans, where Birkin’s green British “Blower” Bentley kept pace with and outwitted the might of Caracciola’s silver white German supercharged Mercedes. Fleming wore a Rolex Explorer, as did his fictional counterpart.

Truth is, at times, stranger than fiction. The randomness or luck of life work in your favour to overcome the odds. Seemingly the more incredulous something is, the more amenable it is to succeed at times. That the outlandish ideas might work appeal to individual fears and insecurities. Fleming’s narratives, whether for war or the loyal reader, played on that.

Whatever you may think of the Bond movies over time, where the narrative and characters have been changed to meet the expectations or trends of 007 fans over the decades, the basic stories are captured in the real-life heroics of Fleming’s ideas and creations. The moral of the story is that fiction can win wars, can turn the tide, or simply be too remote to even be contemplated as made up by the enemy. In conflict, when there is a heightened sense of confusion, fiction can be as believable as the truth. James Bond did exist in Fleming’s war time actions, and still does, in every unseen act of heroism that has helped maintain and preserve the balance of power in the world as we perceive it.

Words: Dr Andrew Hildreth

Culture

StARTing

SAATCHI GALLERY Duke of York’s HQ, King’s Rd, London SW3 4RY. Wednesday 12th – Sunday 16th October 2022

Since its founding in 2014 by David and Serenella Ciclitira, StART has helped to springboard the careers of many artists from around the globe. In 2021, over 15,000 people came to explore its showcase of more than 70 emerging and established artists, hailing from 25 countries including South Africa, Ecuador, Portugal, Colombia, India, Austria, Korea, Thailand, and Ireland, providing collectors and art enthusiasts alike with the opportunity to discover the most exciting works from global markets. To complement the fair, 2021 saw the launch of a new art e-commerce platform StART.art, as well as a series of pop-up selling exhibitions called StART+. The inaugural StART+ opened in Knightsbridge in November last year, followed by Cape Town in March 2022. The first StART art fair Seoul opened last month at the Litenum, in the fashionable Sung Dong Gu district.

Founders David and Serenella Ciclitira have always been apassionate collectors of contemporary art and are dedicated supporters of young and emerging artists and the global art scene. On a 2007 business trip to Karlsruhe, Germany, David and Serenella attended an art exhibition: Termocline of Art: New Asian Waves, which left them with a thirst to learn more about the Asian contemporary art scene but were thwarted by a lack of material on the subject. In 2009, they founded Parallel Contemporary Art (PCA) and launched the Global Eye Programme. Five years later, the Global Eye Awards were launched, and the first StART art fair was held at the Saatchi Gallery.

Since its first edition in 2014, StART art fair has become known for bringing the work of lesser-known artistic communities to the attention of both established collectors and those starting out on their collecting journey. Held annually at London’s iconic Saatchi Gallery, StART fills all three floors of the gallery with a mix of curated projects, gallery presentations and independent artist exhibitors.

This year, go back in time to the heyday of the King’s Road, thanks to a punk cultural tribute courtesy of Illuminati Neon, aka Mark Sloper, presented by Washington Green Fine Arts. Under the title, In 1977 I Wanna Go To Heaven, the artist takes us into an immersive, interactive experience into the heart of the ‘70s punk scene. This installation will be entirely lit by the neon emanating from Sloper’s new works, displayed in room set style vignettes, including a “wretched” squat and a “dive” bar.

Mark Sloper draws on his real punk roots and lifelong passion for music culture to create his dynamic neon art works, each of which are hand blown in Mark’s west London studio, ornately framed and individually hand-embellished with gems and crystals.

Another extraordinary artist exhibiting at this year’s StART is award-winning sculptor , Beth Cullen Kerridge. Beth Cullen Kerridge. She studied at the Royal College of Art, with her work being shown consecutively in two London parks thereafter. She then honed her craft working with and producing works for some of sculpture’s best known, including Eduardo Paolozzi, Elisabeth Frink and Alberto Giacometti, before becoming a studio assistant with Mike Bolus for Sir Antony Caro. Cullen has worked on major projects with Sir Norman Foster on the Millenium Bridge, Richard Rogers and the Tate. After taking time out to help husband Tom Kerridge launch a 2 Michelin-Star pub, she has been engrossed in perfecting marble carving, as well as working with bronze, steel and stone.

Cullen’s work often reflects on our frenetic Western lives. Embedding a seemingly light-hearted dose of humour into traditional materials and forms, more serious messages lurk beneath.

The StART Projects section includes work by the winner of StART’s 2021 Global Eye Award, North West Coast Native artist Steve Smith-Dla’kwagila, whose innovative work is a contemporary take on the traditional iconography of his Oweekeno ancestors. New this year there are a group of contemporary South African artists who debuted with StART+ in Cape Town in March 2022.

StART also welcomes back Spotlight Italia for a second year, curated by StART founder Serenella Ciclitira and Director of Modern and Contemporary Art Gallery Spoleto, Italy, Marco Tonelli. This important snapshot of Italian contemporary art today is presented in collaboration with the Italian Embassy, London.

Born in 1972 in Pisticci, Southern Italy, Antonello Capozzi is a postwar and contemporary painter, engraver, sculptor and designer.

In going beyond the traditional view of Italian art, often intrinsically associated to more classical and renaissance era currents, these Italian artists strike a contemporary vein and embody the wider national context: a dynamic, modern and ever-evolving atmosphere, where a glorious past inspires new expressions of creativity.

The variety of artists brought together in this year’s fair promises to delight visitors and critics alike, giving all an opportunity to learn and appreciate the work of artists and galleries from around the world.

Words: Lavinia Dickson-Robinson

Opening picture: London Calling 2022, by Illuminati Neon. Vintage WWII flag with hand-blown pink neon. 80 x 115 cm. £5,950.

Culture

Hergé. The Exhibition

The father of European comics

Hergé. The Exhibition arrives in Madrid after a world tour that has included cities as far apart as Paris, Quebec, Odense, Seoul, Shangai and Lisbon, delighting Tintin fans of all ages. Curated by the Musée Hergé of Belgium, the show immerses its visitors in the universe of illustrator and artist Hergé, creator of the iconic comic book series The Adventures of Tintin. Hergé said about his most famous character: “Tintin is me wanting to be heroic and perfect…” “Tintin is me… my eyes, my feelings, my lungs, my guts!… I believe I am the only person able to animate him, the only person able to give him a soul.”

Watch Tintín on the move

Tintin was created in 1929. He was like Totor’s (the first cartoon created by Hergé) young brother, who had become a journalist but kept his boy scout’s spirit. He is aged between 16 and 18, with a face which never wrinkled despite officially turning 90 years old in 2019. “Since the Soviets, the character of Tintin has not evolved. From a graphic standpoint Tintin is still a sketch.”

The first eight adventures of Tintin were created in black and white. The first published in colour was The Shooting Star, 1942. Later the pre-war books were redrawn and published in colour.

Considered as the father of European comics, Hergé’s creative genius has opened decisive paths for the 9th art and his influence is still visible in the world of contemporary comics. He is not only the expert in the ligne claire, and the creator of Tintin, but also an artist of multiple talents: graphic designer, publicist, screenwriter, and painter. Recognized as one of the renowned artists of the twentieth century, Hergé is a universal creator. The show presents a wide selection of documents, original drawings and many other works by the talented artist, from illustration to comics, with forays into advertising, cartoons in newspapers, fashion design and plastic arts.

In addition, for the first time in Spain, part of Hergé’s private collection of contemporary art will be shown, revealing his facet as a great collector. You can see the works of Hergé himself, inspired by Modigliani, Klee, Miró and many other renowned artists. Fans will be delighted even more to discover that many other treasures from the Musée Hergé’s collections are on display, such as original drawings, sketches, film clips, models and the artist’s original artwork.

Many treasures from the Musée Hergé’s collection are on display, such as original drawings, sketches, film clips and models.

The tireless reporter Tintin and his faithful Milú have already surpassed the threshold of 90 years, but even in the 21^st century they have not lost their relevance and have conquered their place among the greats of universal literature. The adventures of Tintin continue today to arouse passions in both readers and other creative minds. The books are being more republished than ever and keep inspiring artists, writers, producers, and film directors.

Visitors to Hergé. The Exhibition, will be able to explore the creative processes behind his most emblematic albums, his work in the studio, his markedly cinematographic influences, his dialogue with contemporary art, his different steps as a creator, from the modelling of objects or buildings to coloration.

Hergé. The Exhibition
Circulo De Bellas Artes.
C/ Alcalá, 42, Madrid.
Until 19^th February 2023

Words: Lavinia Dickson-Robinson, edited by Julia Pasarón

Culture

Hallyu!

Korean culture is making waves

I must admit I was a novice in all things Korean, until I visited the newly opened Hallyu! exhibition at the V&A Museum. The first major exhibition celebrates the colourful and dynamic popular culture of South Korea, following its early origins to its place on the global stage today. Hallyu is a Chinese term which, when translated, literally means “Korean Wave”. It is a collective term used to refer to the phenomenal growth and global popularity of South Korea’s popular culture, encompassing everything from music, movies and drama to online games and Korean cuisine, to name but a few.

South Korea has a dedicated goal to become the world’s leading exporter of popular culture. Since early 1999, Hallyu has become one of the biggest cultural phenomena across Asia, attributing its origins to movies and TV dramas that were released early that year. From there, popularity grew, not only within their borders but also in Singapore, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, and Vietnam.

This overwhelming success led to regional media sources quickly picking up the cues and collectively announcing the birth of Hallyu. However, the actual origins go back much further. Several factors contributed tremendously to the evolution of the Korean wave and initiated its phenomenal growth. Probably the most important one, which eventually made way for Hallyu, was the Korean Government’s decision in the early 1990s to lift the ban on foreign travel for nationals. This made way for them to explore the western world. Many studied abroad, and this gave rise to new interpretations of art, cinema and music, and innovative forms of expressions.

Korean censorship laws had prohibited movie makers and other artists from showcasing many topics considered controversial and had curbed their creative independence for a long time. In 1996, this censorship ceased and provided immense opportunities and independence to the young and vibrant generation of Korea to express newer and bolder ideas through cinema and music. Many influential film makers rose during this period.

Following the severe Asian financial crisis of 1997-98, President Kim Dae-Jung pushed for information technology and popular culture as the two key drivers for the future Korea. Technology created new industries above the traditional manufacturing Korea has been dependent on since it rose out of poverty and industrialized, and popular culture became an important export product worth billions of dollars, helping to rebrand Korea.

So, what can you expect from the exhibition?

From K-Pop costumes to K-drama props and posters, alongside photography, sculpture, fashion, video and pop culture ephemera, every facet of this global phenomenon is covered. The exhibition features around 200 objects across four thematic sections – including some loans never seen in the UK before – alongside pop culture ephemera and digital displays. Traditional and contemporary Korean culture is also explored by connecting historic objects with popular culture and socio-political events.

Gangnam Style, by PSY became a worldwide smash hit in 2012. It was the first YouTube video ever to reach 1 billion views. Here seen performance at TODAY, New York, in 2012.

The exhibition opens with a familiar example of Hallyu: PSY’s viral 2012 hit single ‘Gangnam Style’, with his iconic pink suit jacket on display; the first music video to reach 1 billion views on YouTube. Highlights include an immersive re-creation of Parasite’s bathroom set, and an array of iconic costumes and props seen in K-drama, film and music – including from hit Netflix series Squid Game, and outfits worn by different generations of K-pop idols, from PSY, to aespa and ATEEZ. It also presents monumental artworks, including by Nam June Paik, Ham Kyungah and Gwon Osang; around 20 high fashion looks by Tchai Kim, Miss Sohee and Minju Kim among others; as well as early examples of advertising and branding, including an original poster from the Seoul Olympics, and the first Korean branded cosmetic from the 1910s.

‘From Rubble to Smartphones’ provides historical context to the meteoric rise of Hallyu, highlighting how – within living memory – South Korea rapidly evolved from a country ravaged by war in the late 1950s to a leading cultural powerhouse by the early 2000s. Korea’s 20th-century history is marked by the Japanese colonial occupation, the territorial division that led to the Korean War, and the subsequent 27 years of military rule. In the 1960s and 70s South Korea experienced rapid industrialisation and economic growth, and the country was propelled onto the international stage in 1988 with the Seoul Summer Olympics, changing Korea’s image overseas for the first time. Despite the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, bold strategies and IT innovations turned South Korea into one of the most digitally connected countries in the world by the late 90s. Korea’s modern history is represented and explored through photography, posters, and archive materials, alongside objects ranging from Olympics posters to early examples of electronics.

Eight Beauties of Korea folding screen, 1900-1950. Attributed to Chae Yong Shin. Ink and colour on cotton. © OCI MUSEUM OF ART

‘Spotlighting K-drama and Cinema’ focusses on the remarkable success of K-drama and film, charting in turn their rise in popularity from the late 1990s to the present day, through multimedia, installations, posters, storyboards, props and costumes. Traditional Korean costumes and props will also be on display, including the grooming kit from The Handmaiden. This section also showcases webtoons, a Korean innovation of digital cartoons designed for mobile devices, as a source of inspiration for many K-dramas.

‘Sounding K-pop and Fandoms’, the third section, delves into the explosion of K-Pop music around the world, as well as underlining the crucial roles social media and fandoms play in increasing their reach. Visitors enter the gallery through a corridor lined by fan lightsticks, then will be greeted by posters, ephemera and album covers from early K-Pop bands like Seo Taiji and Boys and BoA, before progressing through to explore the concept of ‘Idols’ in K-pop. Highlights include a monumental three-metre-high sculpture of G-Dragon by Gwon Osang, whilst costumes on display will include Aespa’s original iridescent outfits from the music video ‘Next Level’, and British punk fashion-inspired ensembles worn by four members of ATEEZ in the music video ‘Fireworks’.

The final section ‘Making K-beauty and Fashion’, presents K-beauty and fashion, underlining their origin whilst showcasing their innovative and experimental approach that led to new aesthetic standards both inside and outside of Korea. It highlights how product placement in K-dramas and endorsements from K-Pop idols have amplified the international profile of K-beauty and fashion. Featuring cosmetics packaging from the 13th century to the present day, the exhibition will trace packaging’s design evolution, from ornate porcelain pots to items including face mask wrappings boasting idols as superheroes.

Central Saint Martins’s Class of 2020 student Sohee Park (Miss Sohee) saw her Peony dress from her graduation collection ‘The Girl in Full Bloom’ gain practically iconic status when Miley Cyrus wore it on The Graham Norton Show.

I was surprised to learn that the V&A has been collecting Korean art and design since 1888, and now holds one of the largest collections of contemporary Korean craft and design outside the country, including graphic design, fashion, and digital art. It was the first European institution to host the seminal exhibition the National Art Treasures of Korea in 1961 and opened London’s first permanent gallery devoted to Korean arts in 1992.

Hallyu has provided Korea with an excellent opportunity to showcase its diverse culture, people, its unique entertainment products, exotic locales, and its own pan-Asian superstars to the rest of the world. Curated for the V&A by Lead Curator Rosalie Kim and Project Curator Yoojin Choi, the exhibition is also accompanied by a new publication edited by Kim.

The exhibition Hallyu! The Korean Wave runs from 24^th September 2022 – 25^th June 2023.

Further information & tickets are available at www.vam.ac.uk/kwave | #KWaveLondon

Words: Linda Hunting

Opening image: Ji Won Choi x Adidas. Photo by Francesca Allen, courtesy of Adidas.

Culture

FIRSTS: London’s Rare Books Fair

Books in Bloom

Rolls-Royce Goes Wild

Britain's most famous luxury car marque brings woodland magic to London Craft Week

Stephen Cox: Myth

Mesmerising mythology at a major new sculpture exhibition in Norfolk

Woman, Life, Freedom

What the Iran protests mean

Kamin Mohammadi is an exiled Iranian writer living in Italy. She is also a broadcaster and journalist specialising in Iran related topics, among other things.

Spirit of Ecstasy Challenge

Rolls-Royce champions artists of international merit

Slaughter Baby

Slaughter Baby

The art of listening

International Contemporary Art Prize 2022, Prince Pierre of Monaco Foundation

“Kim’s work offers a bridge between the world of the hearing and the world of the Deaf…”

– Christiano Raimondi

The Principality’s Prize was presented to French anthropologist Philippe Descola for the entirety of his oeuvre.

The Neverending Story

The power of imagining, the danger of wishing

**Folio’s edition of The Neverending Story is bound in blocked art silk and presented in a printed and pearl blocked case.**

Ian Fleming

Blurring fact and fiction wins wars

StARTing

SAATCHI GALLERY Duke of York’s HQ, King’s Rd, London SW3 4RY. Wednesday 12th – Sunday 16th October 2022

Hergé. The Exhibition

The father of European comics

Hergé. The Exhibition
Circulo De Bellas Artes.
C/ Alcalá, 42, Madrid.
Until 19^th February 2023

Hallyu!

Korean culture is making waves

Subscribe to the I-M Newsletters:

contact us on: 020 8741 8967

I-M Magazine – Inquisitive Minds

Sign-up to our newsletter

Culture

Books in Bloom

Britain's most famous luxury car marque brings woodland magic to London Craft Week

Mesmerising mythology at a major new sculpture exhibition in Norfolk

What the Iran protests mean

Kamin Mohammadi is an exiled Iranian writer living in Italy. She is also a broadcaster and journalist specialising in Iran related topics, among other things.

Rolls-Royce champions artists of international merit

Slaughter Baby

International Contemporary Art Prize 2022, Prince Pierre of Monaco Foundation

“Kim’s work offers a bridge between the world of the hearing and the world of the Deaf…”

– Christiano Raimondi

The Principality’s Prize was presented to French anthropologist Philippe Descola for the entirety of his oeuvre.

The power of imagining, the danger of wishing

Folio’s edition of The Neverending Story is bound in blocked art silk and presented in a printed and pearl blocked case.

Blurring fact and fiction wins wars

SAATCHI GALLERY Duke of York’s HQ, King’s Rd, London SW3 4RY. Wednesday 12th – Sunday 16th October 2022

The father of European comics

Hergé. The Exhibition Circulo De Bellas Artes. C/ Alcalá, 42, Madrid. Until 19th February 2023

Korean culture is making waves

Subscribe to the I-M Newsletters:

contact us on: 020 8741 8967

I-M Magazine – Inquisitive Minds

Sign-up to our newsletter

**Folio’s edition of The Neverending Story is bound in blocked art silk and presented in a printed and pearl blocked case.**

Hergé. The Exhibition
Circulo De Bellas Artes.
C/ Alcalá, 42, Madrid.
Until 19^th February 2023